Steve Aherne

Steve is the National director of all of YWAM Australia and he was our guest speaker for this weeks lectures. he was a wicked funny man. maybe I just judged him wrong, but never would have guessed he would be a funny man. anyway, he was a great guy. like i said. national director, so top cheese. and also theres this band called Tempertrap. if you havent heard of them, thats ok you will shortly. their making it huge. Steves son is the base player and he and the lead singer were very involved at our specific base. so that was rad. as for the class stuff, that was great too. spoke on the father heart of God, basically understanding our role in relationship with him. very insightful. and a very good week.

IHOF FC update.

played in a unscheduled game with a dudes from two new countries the Netherlands and New Zealand. we won 14 - 2. domination nation.

ALSO. this wed we played again. 11 - 0. koodos to vidar for the hatrick. were now 5 - 0. with a plus minus of around 50 haha.

Pierced Ears and Parkour.

i cant believe i forgot to mention. Jordan and Matty pierced Raf ears with ice and a thumb tack. we have a video that needs to be uploaded asap. he would probably still have his stud earrings if it weren't for the victory celebration that involved ripping off his shirt and yanking the earrings with it.

Parkour - we rarely go anywhere without 'parkouring' our way there. it has caused some comical injuries. but there all worth it.

Adventure mission.

at 11pm after a dance party for Colin's birthday, a few of us decided to catch a train into downtown Melbourne.

I dont know why we went. but we did.

we had to wait for a couple of trains so we got in around 12. walked a small Melbourne loop. went with Jordan to check out some famous alley ways for Graffiti. then decided it was late. and we should head back... and that was around 12. so, its midnight. at the southern cross train station - so of course the last train back home had already left. and we weren't on it.

so we regrouped and decided. we were up for a journey home. we just got a little more than we bargained for.

let me throw a little estimate at you. - on a weekend after midnight in the downtown of Melb. 80 percent of the pedestrian population is intoxicated. so that took asking for directions out of the question, but none the less made it heaps more fun.

so we decided better then nothing lets just get on a tram so were actually moving/ being productive... BAD IDEA. that took us in one direction. where we had to get off, and wait for another tram in another direction that would be ariving "shortly" aka. 40 minutes of drunk people watching. so the train comes. and it takes us in the right direction.. just only to the asian suburb called box hill - which is still a good drive away form our base. but, at least, we recognized our surroundings. so we got off and started walking. it was a while before we were even our of box hill. untill we came across Kent street - which is the street we live on. so we perfect we can just follow this home. However, thanks to some genius city planning, there are identical street names in two suburbs beside each other. needless to say that was not the right Kent st. and we had to keep walking. so we walked and walked. and it got later and later. until we realized we made it to aqua link which is a huge facility we go to some morings for fitness swims. happy we again knew our surroundings. we decided it was ok for the girls we could take a break, so we all layed down in the field. and ya.. we fell asleep. about an hour later. we woke up to Jane screaming and frantically waking us all up. so now groggy and grumpy we all started off again. will still a 40 minute walk home we all put our heads now and just started walking. we didnt even walk together, just sort of in a line not talking. they only exchange was when a possum ran through my legs and I freaked. then Jordan made fun of me for looking like a girl, untill it ran on the fence by his head and he freaked harder. and i made fun back. but we made it back. hopped the gate. fell asleep. and all was well.

All Day Worship - With Mark Parker

The most amazing man was at our school for a week.

on Saturday we worshiped all day. in different forms and different ways - for the entire day.

it has been the most powerful day of faith in my life.

it was incredible.

Culture Night.

i forgot to write about this earlier, but i dont know why, cause it was sick. on Thursday night we had a Culture Night at our base. heres what that looks like:

1) make food from your culture and share it with everyone

2) make a preferably funny presentation about your country.

3) come dressed in something that reps your country and or culture.

i went dressed as "captain Canada. this consisted of my Canada towel wrapped around my waist. shirtless. and a Canada flag cape. i wish i had a picture so i didnt have to write 1000 words. but you will have to take my word for it and use your imagination.

the night was great and the food was even better. you wouldn't believe how many countries are represented until you actually write it out.

but ya all in all, great experience. and the maple syrupy pancakes and bacon may have been the biggest hit.

IHOF FC

IHOF FC is our YWAM futsoul team. Futsoul is an indoor soccer league that we play in every Wednesday night. it has consistently been my favorite night for the past two weeks since we started. IHOF FC is our team name - International House of Footballers - Football Club. generally every team we play is a different nationality. the first night we played a Latin team of south american guys. Tonight we played a team of Italians and the second team had more Asians than you would suspect. My team represents 5 countries, England, Norway, Canada, Brazil and 2 from United States; and we dominate.

going into the first game, we didnt know we would do, we were jumping into the leauge late, and every other team had jerseys and a coach. we wore tee shirts and had just met.

but we killed it. i played keeper and loved it. i feel like im playing basketball, for a few reason its hard to explain - but its working. our first game we won 7 - 2. and tonight we just one 13 -1 and i filled in as keeper for the co-ed team and won 7 - 1. no one really expected this form ourselves. but were lovin it.

Viva la IHOF.

Kangaroo Cookout

Already the first weekend we were off on a mini vacation/retreat trip. about one hour away from our base in Surrey Hills we drove to Whittlesea to a house owned by friends of YWAM. the house was legit. complete with their own personal aviary and swimming pool this place easily housed the 22 of us.


it was mainly a great time to get to know all of our friends and begin our schooling. we had did some prayer, and worship. and had even more fun. we lived in style jumping from the volleyball court into the pool.
it was wicked. the first night there we finally got a chance to chow on some Kangaroo. we had plenty to go around and it was, as they say. a g'day mate.

The second day was comparable if not better. more morning worship, and delicious meals. but the reason why it will probabaly be a day i remember for the a while is because around dusk we drove out to the bush and watched a huge pack of kangaroos bounce over the hills backed by an Australian sunset. alright to look at i suppose.

Arrive Alive

hey guys we are now two weeks in and it is safe to say we are having the time of our lives. we are just gonna go back and recap on the some of the things that have happened over the last few weeks and now that we are settled in we are going to be adding things regularly.

the 32 hour travel from buffalo to melbourne was… interesting to say the least. people watching at the air port, meeting crazy people and attemping to sleep was… fun. on our longest flight from san fransico to sydney we got stuck in a middle row of the air plane. now unfortunatley since both of our legs are so long this would cause a major inconvenice, luckly we were able to work our charm on the middle aged asian female flight attendant and got boosted up to basically first class seats with copious amounts of leg room as well as the benefit of sitting across from her and co-flight attendant listening to them gossip about the on plane drama and how dale (another flight attendant) wont stop showing everyone that picture of his boyfriend. but all in all flight was good, slept lots.


now when we got here we got welcomed by our fearless leader, colin ross, and our other leaders. the first week was all orientation and getting to know the 17 people in our group. in fact the minute we got here, we didnt even unpack we just went right to the park and started playing “footy” aka soccer, disregarding the fact we had been on a plane for 2 days. all in all great first couple of days and we were super excited to do more. living it up, Aussie style.

Adjusting.

Australia is wicked, no doubt. and despite being half way around the world, i never really felt any huge culture shock. but in everyday life there are some things that jump out at you that you just have to get used to:

1) vegamite

2) kangaroo meat products

3) 600ml of coke costing 4 dollars.

4) driving on the wrong side of the road

5) everybody is my mate

6) roundabouts (which apparently sounds like roundabooot)

and of course...

Trams, Trolleys, rubbish and....rice bubbles?

But possibly the coolest feature of our YWAM base is location. We have an unreal property (basketball court, swimming pool, wicked huge chapel and many endless places to lounge. Also, directly across the street from us is a park with a soccer field. However even better than that is the train station 2 minute walk away. For about 6 bucks Canadian you can buy an all day transportation ticket. Hop on the train for 15 minutes to downtown Melbourne. And I know now that this is a bias opinion living here, but the city is like no other. It’s really urban and there is tons to do. Just about everywhere you look theres sick graffiti. And once you’re downtown, with the train ticket in hand, you can use it to catch a tram to just about anywhere. St. Kilda’s beach. Or maybe the markets in south Melbourne. Oppurtunities are endless.

One other thing I noticed is that for this city of 4 million, Its clean as. I’m sure the sidewalk cleaning personnel help (which they have), but I’m determined the city has no trash anywhere is because you get to throw it into big red bins everywhere and call it rubbish.

ps. camon' rice bubbles? who do they think they are.